That One Puppet Thing

There are two different kinds of portal travel: Dimensional (Traveling within your universe) and Interdimentional (traveling to different universes)

Dimensional is the simplest, and can be done with magic. Sun is able to teleport to places around his universe, and the more magic you have, the father you can travel. Tech is also able to accomplish this with few issues, though both requires recharging some sort of energy before reuse. Simple enough.

Interdimensional travel is a lot more complicated.

There are two main kinds of ID travel, Direct Link, and Duel Connection (DL and DC).

Direct Link is a sort of Can-On-A-String system. It requires that the dimensions have the same physics, so that the machine operates correctly, and the same connection device, which I’ll refer to as a Can. They are both programmed to the other’s specific dimension, just like how you can only talk to the other Can when talking through a can-on-a-string. Then, once both are connected, it allows for travel.

The device can also be locked to only allow one-way travel, like a can being connected to a speaker on the other end. The Cans are often designed to only operate for a specific user, and act as house keys to allow one person to enter a specific dimension. For example, if Eclipse wanted Terra to be able to access his dimension, but not Sun or Moon, he’d give Terra a preprogrammed Can that could send her there and back without allowing others.

The more that a dimension differs from another, the more difficult it is to maintain a connection. Imagine trying to speak through a can, but the string is too long for the vibrations to carry through. The other Can is just too far away to connect properly. It also opens up the possibility of someone cutting the string, or purposely severing the connection, trapping someone on one side with no way to get back. The more different the dimension, the more likely to be trapped.

While Direct Link is like a Can-On-A-String, Duel Connection is like a landline telephone with a telephone operator. It requires more machinery, but is also more flexible. A portal is like the telephone, needing to be built in-ground and not portable like a Can. The dimension’s AI system (like Moon’s Computer) is the telephone operator connecting dimensions. When you request a portal to another dimension, for example, “find me a dimension with a good eclipse”, it will automatically throw out any dimensions with incompatible physics, presenting a list of possible dimensions to travel to, which can be further sorted and scrutinized (“find me a dimension with a good eclipse who also has a portal and specializes in tech”). After choosing a dimension, a request is sent out to connect to another dimension’s computer, where the AIs will establish a connection.

If the portal on the other side requires a final say, then they will have to wait for someone to accept the request and establish the portal. Alternatively, if there is no security measure, then the portal will automatically be opened. This allows for unestablished portal travel. There’s also every benefit that a computer could offer: White/Blacklisting, blocking dimensions from travel entirely, allowing portal travel only during certain times of day, etc.

The downsides to the DC is that the only options available for travel are those that have portals themselves; you can’t call a house with no landline. You also open yourself up to attack, since your travel location is known and someone could easily accept the request and attack you upon arrival.

Duel Connection also cannot guarantee save return, unlike a DL. While DLs do have security concerns, DCs are much more likely to lose connection for many reasons such as portal damage, security issues, or the dimension simply being too different from their own to keep steady, and will lead to the connection faltering or even severing entirely, requiring the DC to be reestablished.

For example, Moon enters the horror dimension looking for wither shards. His connection is already spotty, because of the presumably malfunctioning portal and how different the dimension is from his own. He approaches the shard, which directly interferes with the connection, and it is lost entirely. Moon has to wait for Solar to request access again and get to a better connection spot before he is able to escape by the skin of his teeth.

The other major downside is one of social engineering on the AIs part. The AIs can convince each other to connect despite security concerns, and, if the AI does not like you, can even offer you unhelpful or dangerous dimensions to travel to in order to harm you. We see this a LOT, where Sun will try and travel somewhere and end up in the horror dimension or some other unhelpful place. There are ways to manually request access, usually by knowing the dimension’s coordinates and then communicating with the other AI directly. We see this with Eclipse, who manually searches through dimensions when looking for something.

Both forms of interdimensional travel are powered by PSP, or star power. NSP seems to be able to sever the connection, with dead dimensions unable to be connected to at all. This may explain why Infected variants are unable to cross through portals, due to the overwhelming amount of star power required to tear a rift into space. Puppet also seems to be able to travel intersdimensionally without tech, most likely due to PSP.

(@ing my fellow worldbuilding fans)

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